The intersection between food safety, nutrition and food waste is significant, as spoiled or contaminated food can not be considered nutritious, but must also be immediately thrown away or composted. Most nutrient-rich foods, like produce, grains and animal-sourced foods, are highly susceptible to contamination. Contamination, either bacterial or chemical, leads to chronic and acute health conditions — particularly for young children. Given the majority of people in low- and middle-income countries who source food from traditional markets, these environments are a natural control point for food-borne disease, which has a similar impact to the Big Three (malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis). As we look back on World Food Safety Day 2023, it's important to highlight this year's theme: "Food Standards Save Lives." This theme emphasizes the critical importance of food safety standards in protecting consumers from contaminated or spoiled food.

Our latest episode is with Walker Lambert of Pierce Mill, part of the consortium for the Feed the Future food safety program Evidence and Action Towards Safe, Nutritious Foods (EatSafe), which operates in Nigeria and Ethiopia and aims to increase consumer demand for safer food in the traditional markets, where millions of people buy and sell food every day. Progress in food safety efforts, such as utilizing best practices to increase food safety, can simultaneously decrease food waste and loss generated in local markets. As part of EatSafe’s programmatic design, uncovering stories from people living in and around the target markets is essential; EatSafe discovered these stories, which cross borders between food safety, loss and waste, through a technique called story sourcing. These stories shined a light on nuances of the community and the relationship to the market that more formalized data collections missed. Join us as we delve into this compelling story and its implications for food safety and food loss and waste around the world.

You can subscribe to receive the latest episodes of USAID’s Kitchen Sink and listen to our episodes on the platform of your choice: Apple, Spotify, and more! Video recordings of the episodes are available on YouTube. Check in every month for new episodes as global experts discuss a range of issues about food loss and waste (FLW) and methane emissions — from the critical role of youth to the staggering economic costs — and learn about specific ways that USAID is tackling FLW around the world. 

If you have an idea for an episode topic you’d like to see featured or if you would like to participate in an episode of USAID’s Kitchen Sink, please reach out to Nika Larian ([email protected]).

There’s no time to waste!